


Things are Familiar

by Chlstarr



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Epic Mickey
Genre: Animatronic Minnie Doesn't really exist, F/M, I wrote this a LONG time ago in the hopes that she would
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 06:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7033585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chlstarr/pseuds/Chlstarr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Mickey wanders the Wasteland he encounters the familiar faces of some old friends, all the while finding out more about Oswald's Jealousy towards him. He helps Donald find his body parts and gets the Gremlins to repair him. Then he encounters Minnie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Things Are Familiar

Mickey was walking around the eerie forgottoness that was the Wasteland; he suddenly noticed something odd on the ground. _It was a head!_ A very familiar one at that, as Mickey got closer, he recognized the identity of the head immediately.

"Donald? Is that you?!" Mickey squeaked, hardly believing he'd ever find a familiar face in a place like this. Obviously this was not the same Donald Duck that Mickey grew up with, but at this point of trying to find an instant way out, it's safe to say that something or some one of familiarity was better than a "Whole New World." (Pun intended)

"You! You're alive! Oh boy, am I glad to see you!" Donald's animatronic head quacked excitedly, "Uh, do you think you could help me out?"

"Sure thing buddy, but, uh, what happened to the rest of your body?" Mickey asked as politely as he could in hopes of not upsetting the duck of his obvious predicament of being just a head.

"That's what I need your help with. Ya see, one of the Mad Doctor's Beetleworx malfunctioned and caught me off guard, it shot at me and it was a bull's-eye, but it didn't destroy my body parts, just scattered them," Donald explained.

"Don't worry pal, I'll find the rest of your body," Mickey replied instantly with confidence, as he knew what to do.

"Thanks Mickey!" Donald exclaimed happily as he hopped into Mickey's hands, "Oh, and please don't take it out too harshly on Oswald. He didn't always used to be like this."

"I'll keep that in mind Donald. Say, if you're here does that mean the others are here too?"

"Of course! Oswald had the Mad Doctor create us because he wanted-!" the duck head cut himself off as if giving away too much, or almost forgetting that it's none of the mouse's business. But if anything, Mickey was already involved in the whole fiasco because the current state of the Wasteland is his fault to begin with.

"He wanted what?"

"You might have heard this a few times already, but Oswald is as jealous of you as the _me_ in _your world._ He wanted everything _you_ had, and apparently that included us."

"Gosh, and to think that I never even knew Oswald existed until earlier today."

"Well, actually you did know, but you forgot, and that's what this world is for: the forgotten," Donald half explained, half reminded. "Oswald's creation was just a year before yours, so it makes sense either way that you wouldn't remember."

"So Oswald's been jealous of me all this time?"

"Ever since you were born yes. Every now and then Oswald would complain at how you took the spotlight from him, which is why he ended up in the Wasteland in the first place…Hey! There's one of my body parts!"

Mickey looked at the ground a few feet away from them and saw a robotic arm. Being so caught up in the conversation about Oswald made the mouse completely forget about the task at hand. He picked up the arm and examined it.

"Are you sure this is you arm?" Mickey questioned the duck head.

"Of course it's my arm! Not everything about me would look exactly like the Donald Duck _you_ know! Take my right eye for example, a piece of it is missing!" Donald snapped.

"Huh, good point. But what do I do after I've found all of your body parts?"

"Take me to the Gremlins, they're mechanics ya know, so they'll fix me up."

After a few good hours of searching, Mickey finally found all of Donald's body parts. Even when a shady looking Gremlin came and asked to buy Donald's body parts off of Mickey, he refused and continued onward. Then, he took them to the Gremlins he had freed from their cages along the way, and they fixed Donald to make him look as good as…repaired. There was no way they would've been able to make him look as good as _new_. Donald required a little more exterior skin if they were to make him an _exact_ replica of Donald Duck. In any case, Mickey had to get going if he was going to catch up to Oswald.

"You sure you'll be alright without me?" Mickey asked the repaired animatronic duck.

"Yep. I just have to avoid any malfunctioning Beetleworx," Donald replied.

"Alrighty then, take care Don," Mickey said as he waved goodbye to the robotic version of his old friend.

"See ya later Mickey! And be careful!" Donald called out as he waddled away in his own direction.

"Don't worry, I will be!" Mickey called back over his shoulder.

Mickey continued on his path a little further and rescued a few more gremlins with plenty of gratitude from Gus. But as he thought of an animatronic version of Donald being here, and the fact that Donald himself said that the others were also created as animatronics, Mickey wondered if _she_ was here too.

That's when he heard it. The "it" in question was a giggle, a melodic giggle, and one that he knew anywhere. His heart began to race, as he looked around frantically for the source to appear. But nothing was there. Mickey could only droop his ears at the possibility that he was hearing things. Great, just a few hours of being here and already he was losing his mind.

But then he heard it again. He decided to prepare himself this time. He reached for the magic paintbrush on his back and painted a pretty bouquet of flowers. If his hunch were right, then her personality would be the same here even though she'll be a bit more…robotic. The point is she still loves getting flowers from him. Now all he has to do is wait, sure she'll probably pounce on him out of pure joy, but at least he gets to see the, ahem, somewhat familiar face of his beloved while he's still stuck here in the Wasteland.

"Oh, Mickey!" came her happy squeal from behind him. Her glomping him was inevitable. So down he went with a grunt and freshly painted flowers still in hand, but at least he was smart enough to stretch out the arm he was holding them in so they wouldn't be squished. What he completely forgot about was the common fact that _metal_ was heavier than the real deal in flesh and blood. If anything was getting squished it was him, but he didn't mind one bit.

"I knew you'd come here one day, I just knew it!"

"Uh, it's good to see you too Minnie," Mickey managed to say between her kisses and not knowing what else to say to the robot version of his own girlfriend.

A few seconds later she pulled back and just smiled at him lovingly. By now Mickey got a real good look at her. Compared to the Donald animatronic, Minnie was actually much more preserved, with the exception of her left eye of course. Like Donald's right eye, it was the glowing red cyborg eye, but surprisingly she could still blink with it (her eyelid and eyelash is still attached). Other than that, she looked like the exact replica of the real Minnie.

Uh-oh, now her…ahem, metallic weight was getting to him. She noticed that he was starting to turn blue, so she immediately eased off of him and sat up straight, prompting Mickey to sit up as well, after his gasp of air. Still not knowing what to say to her he held up the flowers with a shy smile.

"Oh, Mickey they're lovely! You're so sweet!" She gushed happily as she took them and kissed his cheek. Being an animatronic she couldn't smell the flowers but they were still beautiful to look at regardless. "So, what do you think of the Wasteland so far?"

"Oh! Uh, well, it's pretty strange in some areas, and vaguely familiar yet not quite in others," Mickey answered, trying to formulate the right response without insult, "As a whole it looks as though it used to be a lot less surreal than this."

"That's right, it _used_ to be peaceful here, but then one day the Shadow Blot showed up and ruined everything. The Mad Doctor even managed to manipulate Oswald into hating you even more than he already did secretly!" she started sounding more upset in her last sentence.

Oh yeah, her personality was the same alright, if she ever heard any negative comments centered on Mickey _and_ they were behind his back, she'd get upset about it.

"Easy Minnie, I already know Oswald is envious of me and honestly he has a pretty good reason to be. I ended up getting the attention that should've been _his,_ so he ended up here in the Wasteland, because eventually everyone forgot about him including me. And now that I'm here, it's obvious he has a bone to pick with me, but right now he's being a coward at meeting me face-to-face. Every time I try to get to him, he runs away," Mickey whispered as he hugged her, trying his best to keep her calm.

"That's because he knows you'll influence him into liking you. Especially since all of the Bunny Kids love you already," Minnie replied with a smile.

"Hoo, you can say that again. I was getting glomped by a few earlier today!" They both chuckled. And Mickey could swear he hear some Bunny Kids snickering in the distance.

They talked for a little while longer until Mickey spotted something.

"Hey, isn't that Oswald over there and… _talking to Pete?!_ "

"It sure is, you'd better hurry if you wanna catch him this time."

"Hot dog! I'm practically on his tail!" Mickey said happily as he took one step forward before stopping completely. He turned back to Minnie with a guilty look on his face. The guilt was made up of regret for just leaving her there.

"Go on, I'll be fine," she reassured him. He took the previous step back and hugged her, and brushed his lips against hers as a goodbye kiss. It would probably be awhile before he got to see her again, regardless of whether it was the real one or the animatronic one. A few seconds later, they both broke the kiss and Minnie couldn't help but hug him tighter.

"I've waited for you to come here for so long, and now that you're finally here it almost seems like a dream sequence. Just promise me you'll be careful and come back in one piece," she pleaded.

"I promise I will." He knew that both this Minnie and the real Minnie back home would be devastated if he didn't return alive. He then backed away and slowly letting his hand slip away from hers, turned around and ran towards Oswald's current location.

"Go get him Mickey!" Minnie cheered as she watched her hero run off to face his task ahead.


	2. Vaguely Familiar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, the incident with Pete and Oswald going off into a mech suit is based off one of the original storylines when the game was still in beta.

Mickey had just defeated an old enemy of his, Peg-leg Pete to be exact, and he looked more ridiculous than ever in that outfit resembling one of the female dolls in the Dutch part of the "It's A Small World" ride. Mickey couldn't help but laugh, seeing Pete again and again made it seem like a running gag. Of course, he couldn't have defeated Pete and his Zeppelin alone; he got help from all of the Gremlins he rescued. He couldn't have gotten a victory without their help and their mechanic expertise.

The mouse had gratefully thanked the Gremlins for their help, and then Gus reminded Mickey that Oswald probably hightailed it out of there long before the fight with Pete and was most likely in some other area of the Wasteland. Mickey agreed that they should get going, but before they left he felt the need to at least say a proper goodbye to _her_ first.

As he walked back to where he last saw the Wasteland's animatronic version of Minnie, it didn't really surprise him that she wasn't there. Though it did surprise him that a Hades-head Beetleworx was there instead, and judging by the occasional sparks coming from its neck, it was probably the same one the blasted Donald into scattered parts. Right now, it looked as though it were looking for something else to blast.

Mickey quickly hid himself behind a rock so he wouldn't be spotted, and now he just had to find a way to sneak by without being noticed. Looking around, he noticed a Bunny Kid waving to him, and signaling for him to follow. Nuts…the adorable bunny was on the other side of a different rock, requiring Mickey to have to be out in the open for a few moments. With that Beetleworx nearby, he'd be a moving target.

" _Looks like I'm gonna have to gun it if I'm gonna get over there without being blasted by that Beetleworx's thinner_ ," Mickey thought to himself. Then he thought of a better idea. Reaching for his paintbrush he drew a bunch of wind-up toys of himself, to use as decoys. One by one he wound them up and let them go in the direction of the Beetleworx.

In turn, the Beetleworx noticed the little contraptions and started shooting at them. With the Beetleworx distracted, Mickey ran as fast as he could towards the spot where he last saw the Bunny Kid. Mickey sighed a breath of relief at not being spotted by the mechanical monstrosity. Unfortunately that same breath hitched in terror as his heart lurched in this chest at the sight before him.

The Bunny Kids were gathered around the animatronic Minnie that he had met earlier, only at the moment she wasn't functioning. She just seemed to lie there lifeless, as lifeless as a little girl's doll with her eyes closed. Mickey fell to his knees in disbelief. He had just met her about a half an hour ago…what could have possibly happened to her in that time frame? The only thing that was out of place on Minnie was that her legs were partly detached at her knees and, of course, her red cyborg eye wasn't glowing. The Bunny Kids looked just as distraught as Mickey was. After all, to them she was "Auntie Minnie" since he was their "Unca' Mickey."

"What happened to her?" Mickey finally asked solemnly. The Bunnies understood, but not being able to explain in full sentences without speaking over each other, they pantomimed what happened (sound effects included). And by the looks of it, a Beetleworx got her, shooting her against a rock where she landed on her off switch and the impact was so powerful that her legs almost fell off. However, it wasn't just any Beetleworx…the bunny playing as the Beetleworx was twitching it's head every so often, and Mickey knew right away that it was the same malfunctioning Beetleworx that blasted Donald to pieces, literally.

Anger instantly built up in Mickey as he glared in the direction he just came from, knowing that the Beetleworx in question was most likely still there, lurking. Just as he got up to leave to get pay back on the twisted machine that did this to Minnie, two Bunny Kids lunged themselves at Mickey's legs, one on each leg, preventing him from moving any further. As he looked down at them they both shook their heads and pointed back to Minnie as if to say that she was more important.

"You're right," He sighed, "She _is_ more important, especially in this state." He noticed the bouquet of flowers he had given her earlier and decided to hold on to them until he could wake her up.

Looking at her partly detached legs, Mickey noticed there were loose wires barely keeping together, the kneecaps were the main missing piece. If he turned her on now the loose wires could hurt her with their electricity, or worse make her short circuit. Mickey reasoned that he could carry her himself to the Gremlin Village to get her fixed, but then he remembered his first encounter with her and how heavy she actually was considering that she's mostly made of metal. So that idea was out, he'd have to get her there using another way of tactic. Then he realized the Bunny Kids somehow managed to carry her to safety all by themselves, but there were at least 18 or 20 of them that were here with him at the moment anyway so that made sense.

"Aw, there's just gotta be a way to drag her over- wait that's it!" Mickey exclaimed as yet another idea struck him. Getting out the Magic Paintbrush, he painted a sled. It was simple enough to place her on and it had small sides to cradle her for the ride.

"Alright fellas, help me load her in," Mickey instructed.

They did just as they were told and two of them climbed in the sled with Minnie to make sure that she would stay put, in case any big bumps in the road would cause something to fly out. The rest of them helped push the sled while Mickey pulled it on his end using the string that was attached. The sled moved onward with ease, and luckily the Gremlin Village was just on the other side of the hill. Little did Mickey or the Bunny Kids know, they were being watched…

Soon, Mickey, the Bunnies and their precious cargo made it up and over the hill. It was steeper than it looked on the other side, and made for an interesting sled ride. Avoiding big rocks and even little rocks so there wouldn't be too many bumps, enough to send something flying. The hill was so steep that they slid all the way into the nearest garage, and as the ground became less slippery the sled lost its momentum and slowly stopped.

"Mickey! There you are! Are you ready to go yet?" Gus called out to the mouse, as Mickey started getting out of the sled.

"No, not yet. I uh, kinda need you and the others to do one more repair job for me, if it's not too much trouble," Mickey replied shyly.

"Certainly! It's no trouble at all. Who is it this ti-! Oh…" Gus gasped when he saw the animatronic version of Minnie Mouse. Somehow it didn't surprise Gus. Sooner or later Mickey would meet her and as predicted, grow a little attached to her.

"Luckily that malfunctioning Beetleworx that got Donald earlier didn't damage her too much. But I guess it did manage to shut her down," Mickey explained, "And made the wiring in her legs come loose."

"Don't worry Mickey we'll have her fixed in a jiffy," he soothed. "Alright boys! Lets get to work!" with that, other Gremlins showed up to help with Minnie's repairs. Placing her on a makeshift operating table that was mostly used for repairing motor engines of sorts, but it did have an electric generator on each end of the table for just in case something needed an electric jumpstart.

"Golly! It's amazing that most of her exterior skin is mostly still in tact after all these years," one Gremlin noted, carefully putting the wires back in.

"Yeah, except for now since that Beetleworx got her knees. Her kneecaps are gone, leaving all these wires loose and vulnerable!" exclaimed Gremlin Jamface, placing in the kneecaps.

"I have a feeling she's more preserved than the others because she was His Majesty's best friend!" cried the first Gremlin again.

"That may be a reason, though I think she was mostly a helping nanny for the little ones, but other than that you're probably right since she is part of the Fab Five," Gus added.

Mickey couldn't help but linger his thoughts on what the Gremlins were saying. It confused him why Oswald would even have the Mad Doctor create an animatronic Minnie in the first place. If anything after her creation she would've been immediately exiled to Mickeyjunk Mountain. If Oswald was so jealous of him why would he have the closest thing reminiscent of him created? If one thought about it long enough, they would say that Minnie was half the reason Oswald was forgotten. Mickey was one half and Minnie was the other; they debuted together in the same cartoon and were the same species. It may have not been obvious reasoning but it was still a fact.

"Alright everyone, time to switch her power back on!" Gus pressed her power button in the back of her neck and hoped for the best.

Another Gremlin flipped a switch and the generators surged electricity into Minnie, powering her up. When her power reached full capacity her eyes opened, and the switch was flipped off to keep the electricity from over flowing. Then Minnie sat up and looked at her surroundings, confused that she was not in the area where she was before her power went out. Then her eyes landed on Mickey and the Bunny Kids and all unspoken explanation just clicked into place.

"Oh Mickey! You saved me!" She gushed as she flung herself into Mickey's arms _almost_ knocking him onto his back again.

"It wasn't entirely me who saved you Minnie. The Bunny Kids found you first and led me right to you, and then I helped them get you here to get repaired," Mickey admittedly explained.

"Oh, you little darlings!" Minnie gushed as she kneeled down to wrap her arms around as many adorable little Bunny Kids as she could, as they cooed their contentment.

"Oh yeah! I uh, saved these for ya," Mickey remembered as he brought out the flowers he'd given her earlier.

"Aww, you kept these for me?" She cooed.

"Well, uh, I wasn't gonna just leave them there after I found ya-!"

She cut him off with a thank you kiss, but the tender moment didn't last as long as it should've, for Minnie's left eye detected an all too familiar body heat signature just outside the garage hiding behind a boulder.

"Oswald…?"

"What? He's still here?" Mickey questioned aloud.

Unfortunately he was loud enough for the lucky rabbit to overhear that he had been spotted. Flinching upon Mickey's voice giving such a hint of his detection, Oswald did the only thing he could do: _run_! There was no way he'd let his little half-brother get anywhere near him without a fight. Although at the moment there wasn't much of any fighting going on, more like running away like the White Rabbit from _Alice in Wonderland_. Oh, the irony that was realized on that thought. Still, it was rabbit-like for him. Running away from " _ **Mr. Popularity**_ " himself was his best bet until he could remember where he hid the mech suit that The Mad Doctor made for him many years ago. Before the Doc betrayed him to become a loyal follower of the Shadow Blot…

No sooner had the rabbit bolted from his hiding spot than Mickey prepared to go after him out of instinct. Again, he took just one step forward before stopping himself completely. Turning back to Minnie with the same guilty look on his face he had the first time he left her side. He still regretted just leaving her here, though now she was in the company of the Gremlins and a few Bunny Kids. Taking that same step back, but instead of hugging her like he did the last time he knelt down to the Bunnies.

"Now you fellas take good care of her ya hear? I don't wanna come back here only to find that something worse happened," Mickey requested with a cheerful tone. The Bunny Kids saluted their uncle, promising that no harm would dare come to their "Auntie Minnie". Then Mickey rose back up on his feet, and finally gave her the proper goodbye he'd been dying to give her.

"Now remember to not let anything he says get to you. He's just jealous!" Minnie warned. Mickey nodded.

"Don't worry Minnie, I'll remember," He reassured, "I'll see ya real soon!"

"See ya."

With that, Mickey turned to his recently newest closest companion Gremlin Gus.

"Ready to go Gus?" Mickey asked.

"Ready when you are Mickey!" Gus replied.

And so, they set off continuing their pursuit of the King of the Cartoon Wasteland. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.


End file.
